It’s a highly controversial subject with people on both sides of the religious fence involved, as well as contradicting opinions even amongst scientists. The politicans seem to be, at the moment, swayed mostly by religious views of life and it’s genesis. That’s why this article that I read this morning was encouraging news, and not just for the progress it has made, but for the hope that it will give to many people.

Many of the embryonic stem cells that are the source of the research being conducted today come from embryos from fertility clinics - those that are scheduled to be thrown away. People regard them as life, but if that is the case, why throw them away?

Currently, if you wish to research stem cells and receive government funding, you must use current stocks of embryonic stem cells, and not new ones (thus no new embryos will be destroyed). This however does not prevent private companies from doing research on new embryo stem cells, it is only the government researchers that are handicapped in this manner.

The news today though was an important bit of evidence that stem cells can be used to help the physically handicapped - that stem cells can help severed spinal cords grow back (something previously thought unobtainable). Two-thirds of the rats involved in the study regained some hind limb movement after having their spinal cords severed then repaired using their own stem cells.

Another important advance is the research results that show using stem cells can help repair heart attack damage. New trials on human beings have begun at Hospital to test the safety of this procedure. This procedure uses stem cells called mesenchymal cells taken from the patients bone marrow.

But just the US is re-evaluating the stocks of stem cell lines it has, researchers have found a way to identify master cells in a patients own brain cells, and to grow them in batches so they can be used brain wasting diseases such as Parkinson’s or Huntington’s. An exciting discovery this would forgo the need for embryo stem cells, quite a bright piece of news for anyone grappling with the moral implications of using embryos for medical material.

The potential from stem cells is astonishing. We might be able to cure many fatal wasting diseases at birth (after birth, I’m not talking about genetic engineering), help stop diabetes, grow new limbs or organs, use them to treat cancer, the list is endless. But we must ask ourselves if the current method of obtaining these cells is acceptable. The current method of harvesting stem cells is to take them from embryos from leftover in-vitro fertilization or embryos from abortions. If these embryos were going to be destroyed anyway and we, as a society have accepted that, why is it difficult for us to accept that we could harvest some cells from those leftovers to possibly cure some of the worst diseases of mankind? (It should be noted you can take stem cells from umbilical cords of babies who are born, too, meaning life wouldn’t be destroyed to harvest stem cells)

On another note though, there are other ways to gather stem cells that are only just being researched, such as taking them from other mammals like rabbits, and the method mentioned above taking them from patients themselves. Stem Cell Therapies International Inc. uses this mammal harvesting method and hopes to help treat diabetes, aging diseases and other ailments. Not altruistically mind you, the market is expected to reach $30Billion by 2010, so it is beginning to heat up.

The politics and arguments over this controversial subject will rage for many years but even now many countries are forging ahead with research, in efforts to be leaders in the field. Some nations are developing stem cell “lines” rapidly regardless of religious objections however weak or strong in their populace. If you are interesting in keeping track of these developments, I suggest Today’s Stem Cell Research and the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

What is your opinion? Do you agree with it? Do you think we should forge ahead and become a leader? Or should we wait for other nations to take the lead before we take action? Is it so morally objectionable that we should abandon this field?

Update, July 27: The Bill to expand Stem Cell Research has stalled in the Senate.